Lather making machine



Jan- 14, 1958 l w. w. svENDsEN 2,819,927.

LATHER MAKING MACHINE' Filed July 2.8, 1954 LATHER MAKING MACHINE Walter W. Svendsen, St. Paul, Minn., assigner to Morris B. Holmberg, Minneapolis, Minn.

Application July 28, 1954, Serial No. 446,339

3 Claims. (Cl. 299-83) This invention relates to lather making machines wherein rotary driving of a brush against a confined cake ate'nt N' of soap with an attendant supply of water results in the almost instantaneous production of an eficient lather for shaving purposes.

Such devices, principally for use in barber shops, are available at the present time utilizing an electric motor as a source of power, housed in a chamber of a unitary casing which also defines a lather and brush containing chamber, and a third chamber for containing water. Such prior art devices, to my knowledge, have involved a multiplicity of parts, are expensive and somewhat large and cumbersome and are not well adapted to domestic or home use.

It is an object of my present invention to provide a simple and very compact lather making machine having a relatively high efficiency and involving a minimum :number of working parts. Another object is the provision of an improved, small device of the class described wherein renewal of water and soap supplies is most convenient and wherein the production of lather with heat supplied and dispensing of the same is almost instantaneously produced and controlled.

Further objects of my invention are the provisions of a simplified and more efficient water level control, higher eciency in the fast production and heating of eiiicient lather through an agitator-type rotary brush; prevention of drying or caking of soap in the lather chamber; and further the urging of the rotary brush with proper pressure against the soap during all stages of consumption or wear of the soap cake. I

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. 1 is a view mostly in vertical section along the longitudinal center line of an assembled embodiment of my invention, a portion of a side wall of the housing and control member and spout cover being left and shown in full lines and some of the other parts being broken away beyond the general vertical plane of section;

Fig. 2 is a cross section taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1 with some portions broken away; and

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the sealed water container and depending discharge spout with the lower portion of said spout shown in vertical section.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the base plate or cap.

Referring now to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, all of the working parts of my improved mechanism with the exception of a combined control member and spout cover are housed within a very compact and ornate housing comprising a main body 6, a removable, shell-shaped housing cover 7 and a base plate or cap 8. The housing comprising such parts with certain additional closures or covers may all be constructed from suitable materials such as Bakelite. plastic or light 2,819,927 Patented J ain.. jllll, 1953 metal, dielectrical materials being preferred. The main body 6 of the housing is molded or otherwise formed to constitute an intermediate vertical partition 6a and substantially aligned horizontally extending generally substantially rectangular chambers 6b and 6c, said chambers extending through the ends of the housing body 6 and being suitably covered or closed as will later be explained. The rectangular chamber 6b is greater in length than chamber 6c and constitutes the lather chamber where, through abrasive rotary action of the bristles of a brush rotor indicated as an entirety by the numeral 9, lather soap is progressively removed from a conventional shaving soap cake S and, with a controlled supply of water, is swirled and foamed to almost instantaneously form an efficient lather.

The smaller rectangular chamber 6c houses an inexjensive but efcient electric motor M preferably of the shaded pole-type. The motor case is almost concentrically secured within chamber 6 as by bolts 10, suitable means such as live rubber washers or plugs being interposed between the supporting connections to minimize vibration and noise. The vertical partition 6a of the housing body 6 is provided with a substantially central horizontal bore 6d to accommodate the armature shaft 11 of motor M which projects therethrough axially into the lather chamber 6b and preferably has a flatted outer portion, as shown in Fig. 2, upon which the hub 9a of the brush rotor is aflixed with inherent provision for relative longitudinal sliding movement thereon in revolution. Chamber 6c is sealed with respect to the motor shaft-receiving bore 6d through suitable means such as the provision of an O-ring 12 disposed between the shaft 11 and the annular shoulder of a recess formed in partition 6a at the motor chamber side thereof.

The brush rotor 9 is preferably formed throughout the major part of its axial length with a plurality of circumferentially spaced, partially spiral blades 9b which emanate and may be integrally formed with the hub 9a and which are canted to produce propulsion of the rotor or head during revolution of the motor shaft 11 in a direction towards the outer end of the lather chamber where the soap cake or bar S is xedly positioned. The outermost end of the brush rotor 9, as shown, is formed into an integral disc head 9c which, as shown, has secured in suitable sockets thereof a multiplicity of diverging bristle units 9d. As shown, the positioning of the several bristle units is generally in the arrangement of radially and semi-spiralled vanes extending similarly in curvature to the blades 9b of the rotor body and extending normally for some distance beyond the head disc 9c.

I provide a soap holder cover 13 having a cylindrical sleeve which is externally threaded, as shown inFig. 2, to threadedly engage a large internal thread at the lefthand end of the housing body 6, said cover 13 having an outer head or disc 13a which is adapted to seal at its overlying shoulder with the adjacent end of the housing l body and which, as shown, has its circumference knurled to facilitate application and detachment thereof. The sleeve 13b of the soap holder is internally provided with suitable means for non-rotatively holding a cake or bar of soap and, as shown, a plurality of longitudinal, circumferentially spaced internal ribs 13e are provided in the sleeve protruding only slightly beyond the internal periphery of the sleeve and which will gouge a, cake of soap when the same is forcibly applied and held within such sleeve, thereafter preventing relative rotation of the cake to the anchored sleeve.

The housing cover shell 7 is streamlined substantially arcuately at the ends thereof and terminates in a lower rectangularly arranged skirt or edge which frictionally interfits with a rabbeted shoulder 6s formed in the gen# water and mixture of soap and water is conveyed rearwardly past the bristles and circumferentially of the brush rotor, accumulating or backing up against the partition 6a of the housing and thereafter owing upwardly and forwardly to the discharge spout 19. This insures a formation of an excellent lather' before discharge thereof which is adequately heated by the rising steam or hot vapor from the sump 23 in the base plate. In operation, it takes only a few seconds upon forward displacement of the control member 5 for discharge of heated lather onto the iingertips of the user through spout 19.

Immediately upon release of the control member 5, switch 21 is returned by the leaf spring 22 to open the circuit and stop operation of the motor and heating element. Simultaneously the discharge opening of spout 19 is closed and substantially sealed by interposition of the body 5a of the control member. With my structural combination and the electrical circuit utilized therein, there can be no drying of soap in the lather casing from heating or danger of accident through continuance of the heating operation after the contro-l member is released, because the circuit to the heating element is immediately opened when the fingertip control member 5 is released.

In the revolution of the brush rotor, the partial spiral contour of the radial blades 9b and also, to some extent, the spiral arrangements of the series of bristle units 9d, propel the rotor and brush in the direction of the exposed face of the soap cake S. The brush rotor 9 is free to slide, as has been previously stated, on the fiatted shaft 11 so that the proper degree of friction of bristle tips upon the soap is always maintained during successive Wear upon the cake of soap S.

The high eiiiciency of the revolving latherproducing means including the rapid agitation effected by the agitator blades 9b and the compact relationship of motor M and the removable water reservoir enables my device to require only minimum volumetric space for mounting and housing of all of the cooperating parts. The simplicity of the device and minimum number of parts required enables my device to be manufactured at relatively loW cost to the end that it is well adapted for sale to individual users.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportion of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A lather mixing machine having in combination a housing dening a lather chamber, a medial partition and an adjacent motor-receiving chamber, a vertical socket in said partition extending to and in communication with the bottom of said lather chamber for receiving the discharge tube of a removable water reservoir, 1a water reservoir removably mounted on said housing with its discharge tube depending in said socket and having means associated therewith for controllably supplying water to said lather chamber, means for holding a bar of soap Within the outer end of said chamber, a brush head mounted in said lather chamber and occupying most of the space therein and disposed substantially coaxially with the bar of soap and carrying a multiplicity of bristles at its outer end for contact with said soap, said brush head having radially extending agitating and propelling blades extending from the periphery thereof and a driving shaft having sealed relation through said partition and connecting said motor With said brush head.

2. A lather mixing machine having a mounting deiining a lather chamber, means for holding a bar of soap Within sai-d chamber, a motor supported on said mounting externally and at one end of said lather chamber, a brush head mounted in said lather chamber, driven by said motor and disposed within said chamber and carrying bristles contacting said soap, a water reservoir supported from said mounting and controllably supplying a small amount of water to the bottom of said lather chamber, tan electrical heating element of immersion-type disposed in the bottom of said lather chamber for rapidly heating the small amount of water discharged, a control member having a handle mounted exteriorly of said mounting and adapted to be shifted to open a discharge spout for lather as well as to actuate an electrical switch, and au electrical circuit including said switch with means for normally holding said switch open and including said motor `and said electrical heating element, all connected in series whereby when said control member is released said switch will be opened and said electrical heating element in said motor will simultaneously be deenergized.

3. In a lather mixing machine, a mounting defining a lather chamber, means for holding a bar of soap substantially vertically disposed at one end of said chamber, a horizontal driven shaft mounted in said chamber with its axis substantially aligned with the central portion of said soap bar, a brush head mounted upon said shaft in said chamber and having non-rotatable but longitudinally slidable connection with said shaft and carrying a multiplicty of bristles at its outer end for contact with said soap, said brush head inwardly of said bristles `carrying a plurality of circumferentially spaced elements spiraled relatively to the directional revolution of said shaft to propel said head upon said shaft in the direction of said soap to apply the proper degree of friction between the ends of said bristles and said soap during successive wear of said soap and means for controllably supplying water to said chamber.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,782,095 Jensen Nov. 18, 1930 1,831,028 Olson Nov. 10, 1931 1,914,868 Rolsta-d June 20, 1933 2,052,569 Jensen Sept. l, 1936 2,122,636 Cantrell July 5, 1938 2,344,170 Rolstad Mar. 14, 1944 2,413,925 Massion Ian. 7, 1947 2,517,539 Brown Aug. 8, 1950 

